2012 Nov-Dec – John Stritzinger

2012 Nov-Dec – John Stritzinger

John Stritzinger

I am seriously into photography on a daily basis. I love taking photos! On my daily train commute into Philadelphia you'll find me reading, I confess, almost always a photography magazine--one of half-a-dozen I subscribe to. Photography has really consumed me for the past 2 years, but I have enjoyed taking photos more casually of family and while traveling for many years. Like many of us I have shoeboxes filled with photos of my children, now grown and in their 20s. Photos taken with simple plastic cameras, disposables, and finally the digital plunge in 2004, with an Olympus point-and-shoot. I also have some treasured photos shot with a Nikon film camera on travels to a dozen states, including Hawaii, in Canada, and a decade ago Tokyo, Japan!

My dad was often taking photos of us as kids, using an Olympus camera, starting back in the late 50's when photography was far less common. Growing up in Buffalo, NY there were trips to Niagara Falls, and after a move to Harrisburg, PA, trips to the shore. Seeing my family in those Kodachrome moments during slide-shows or in albums stirred something, and along the way, I acquired my first simple black plastic film camera in the early 60's and started taking photos of our vacations.

After I'd graduated from college, my dad traded in his hunting gear for photography gear and put a darkroom in our basement. His Ansel Adams inspired prints made in that darkroom 30 years ago got me interested again. So while it's really a life-long interest, I'd never really focused seriously on making images until the last couple years.

On a trip to Australia in 2010, I was taking photos on a boat tour in a rain forest, using a small Nikon P90, and noticed another passenger using a seriously large Canon DSLR and humongous lens. I started to realize how much more was possible with a DSLR....I took a one-month photography basics course at Montgomery Community College that June. I purchased a Canon 7D in summer. And puh-pow! I felt as happy and creative as a young boy getting a new game to play. I took another photo course online the next Spring. I joined the Churchville club. Last year I took on a 365 Project, taking a photo-a-day for a year, and truly did not miss a day!

I've discovered that life's details amaze and excite me - nature, macro, people, architecture, and the sublime landscape are all passions. When I see a telling expression cross a face or the setting sun light up the sky, I get excited, want to grab my camera, and try in my own small way to capture an expression of how it feels to see such magnificence in life.

I also enjoy digital-darkroom work on images, and submitting them to shows and contests. This past March I was fortunate to have two images receive an award in our Churchville show -a real thrill for me as I'd never had any recognition before.

So unlike some of you who've been making great images for years with DSLRs and maybe developing B&W prints from film for decades, my journey has just begun. No doubt my boyish enthusiasm comes from being so young in photographer years - lots of mistakes to make as I grow! - and I hope my image making matures along with me over the coming years.

Thanks for reading a bit about me....and hope you enjoy looking at my images.

Note: As with all of the images on this site, the above images, are the exclusive property of the photographer. You may not copy or use any image without written consent of the photographer. Failure to comply constitutes copyright infringement and may be punishable by law and subject to fine. To comment on, purchase, or request permission to use the above images, please contact John Stritzinger at jstritz@gmail.com.